In a study that focuses on how different values and considerations are attached weight
to in organisations with different forms of association to the Norwegian central state,
we found that economic values and considerations such as efficiency and effectiveness
are attached more weight to in organisations that have less direct contact with the
central state than in organisations that are situated close to the central state. The
opposite is the case regarding political values; i.e. the amount of political steering an
organisation receives from the central state. However, the nexus between form of
association and which values are attached weight to, is not as strong and unambiguous
as various documents and actors in Norwegian politics seem to assume. Besides form
of association, both the internal characteristics of the organisation, the education of the
actors in the organisation and the amount of market competition affect the way in
which different values and considerations are attached weight to.
This paper raises the question whether there also exists «internal variation»
between different organisations within a particular form of association. Could the
variations between two public corporations be more substantial than the variations
between public enterprises compared to e.g. state-owned enterprises? From an
instrumental perspective, we expect the variations between different forms of
association to be more substantial than the variations within a certain form of
association, while the transformative perspective creates an understanding for the
variations within a particular form of association exceeding the variations that exist
between the different forms.
We find that the variations within the different forms of association exceed the
variations between the different forms in all cases, as predicted by the transformative
perspective. In other words, the amount of weight that is attached to a particular value
is varying more when we compare the different public corporations, than when we
look at public corporations and compare them to e.g. state-owned enterprises. The
different forms of associations are not that different after all. The detailed guidelines
existing in the Norwegian public sector regarding which form of association should be
favoured depending on the organisation’s tasks, sector and clientele, do not seem to
have much practical significance.